Repair specialist saves over 2 million kilos from landfill waste

Repair specialist saves over 2 million kilos from landfill waste

November 21st, 2012

Thanks to all our repair work at Plastic Surgeon, we have saved over two million kilograms of waste from going to landfill so far this year. Add this to the fact that October was our busiest month since the recession began in 2009, we are wondering what the total will be, come the 31st of December.

So just what does 2,000,000 kg or 2,000 tonnes look like, piled up? Well down at the scrap yard it would probably take a thousand estate cars –still with all their oily parts in place – or one of the Navy’s smaller submarines that you can see rusting away on the waterside at Havant.

For those of you who still prefer to weigh yourself using Imperial measures, this amount equates to a saving of 4,409,200lb, which would equal 18,762.55 Arnold Schwarzeneggers. The average (honest) woman tips the scales at 117 pounds or 53.07kg, more than doubling the head count – alternatively equaling 4,400,000 plus guinea pigs.

The above illustrates the disparity in weight between living beings, but the construction products we repair on a daily basis also vary wildly in density as well as size. Stating the obvious, a solid marble column weighs more than a uPVC window cill; while a granite worktop is going to be much heavier than a composite one. Representing the total tonnage in terms of a single category of component, our contribution to the environment would amount to saving 28,500 front doors, or more than a quarter of a million basins.

We also regularly repair doors, skirtings, architraves and floor or wall tiles; as well as baths, bidets and toilets, window glazing, balustrades and various masonry substrates: all different weights and shapes that will take up more or less space in landfill sites.

We have saved all these items from being taken away in skips this year, plus the embodied energy that would be required to rip them out, manufacture and deliver replacements; then the power tools (electricity), glues, grout, screws, nuts or bolts, needed to secure that replacement back into position.

So next time you pass a skip lorry, just imagine an old quarry site with 37,366 collections of the complete Encyclopedia Britannica sitting at the bottom…..or whatever commodity your imagination can conjure up. The fact that our ability to repair building components is highly sustainable, almost always cheaper than the cost of replacement – with the installation work and making good this requires – and lastly the fact that fixing is generally quicker, all adds up to Plastic Surgeon’s service being the right option for our customers and the planet.